For A Monday

And if it rains all day,‘Call on you, I’ll call on youLike I used to slide down besideAnd wrap you in storiesTailored entirely for you . . .

Spitfire thin and strung like a violinI was;Yours was the face with a graceFrom a different ageYou were the sun in my Sunday morningYou were the sun in my Sunday morningTelling me never to goSo I’ll live on the smileAnd move down the aisleOf the last bus homeAnd if you’re running lateThis is where I’ll goKnow I’ll always, (always) wait — British indie band Elbow, Great Expectations (2005)

It’s a blissful mix of hopeful love and funereal sadness, against a Spanish guitar, sweet piano and beating drums, with the buzz of an electronic angel flying overhead. It’s devastating, unflinching and one of the finest songs we’ve heard all year. —NME Album Reviews, 19 Sept 2005.